Massive debt to shift!!

hope_to_be_debt_free

I'm a long time lurker, having used MSE to help with bills and best credit card deals. Anyhoo I've taken the plunge and set up my own diary, having read some really inspirational diaries.

I had my LBM about 3 weeks when I realised we (my dh and I) could not afford this months full repayments,decided to try and take control of our accounts and got into a massive panic. Don't think i'd realised just how bad things had got especially the past 12 months, we've been using credit cards just to get by, then getting another when used up and snowballed into the mess we're in now over £30,000 worth of debt. I'm so ashamed

Having contacted StepChange they're advice is to do an IVA. But have decided in the meantime to do a DMP maybe temporarily to try and get our heads round things and try and regain control with spending. We have a DFD of 13yrs 8months,reducing to 8yrs 2 months once HP car is paid. Hoping to start on 1st July.

We've contacted most creditors, offered £1 token payments and so far they've been great. Don't think we need to change banks as we have no debt or overdraft.

We've set realistic shopping budgets and trying to do our shops between A*di and L*idl. I'm going to invest in a load of pots, jars or envelopes for individual spends. Once I've gained some control I may even join a challenge or 2.

I'm starting to feel better already writing this diary. I will try and update as much as poss :j

Triangle

I could have wrote your post myself

We have had a lightbulb moment just like yours when I realised I just couldn't juggle anymore. First contacted Stepchange on Friday and have spoken to them four times since already!

We will be starting a DMP in September, going to make a couple of months token payments first. I still need to adjust a few things on the budget (getting rid of Sky asap) but DFD at the moment is around 10 years - will definitely hope to cut this down! An IVA was suggested to us too but decided for various reasons we didn't want to go down that route.

So I'm wishing you all the luck in the world :beer:

hope_to_be_debt_free

Thank you so much for your reply. It's so nice to find someone who is in the same boat. There has been a lot of tears and wobbles but we finally came to the agreement to try out the DMP and take it from there. Think we need to find our true finances if you get me? If it fails or we think we can't put anymore in then we can go down the IVA route.

I suggested to my DH to hold off until August so we've got some sort of EF and try and get some of the creditors near to a default, I've read on here it's the best thing to get the interest frozen but my DH phoned StepChange and suggested this but they're keen to get us up and running ASAP.

Anyway :beer:and good luck to you too

rockabillygirl

Hi. Just wanted to wish you the best of luck and have subscribed so I can follow your journey. There is fantastic support, knowledge and advice from the money saving community, so your in the best place!
Me and my partner were in your position some years ago but with a higher volume of debt. The road will be hard at times but you will get there.
Stay focused but be kind to yourself.

hope_to_be_debt_free

Thank you for your kind words rockabillygirl your signature is amazing well done it makes me hopeful that our DMP is achievable! It's so nice to unburden on here with people that understand.

I've had a long day at work today not had much chance to think about/dwell on my situation today which is a good thing! I feel a little bit more relaxed and less weight on my shoulders, don't know if it's because it's the weekend? I'm going into work for an hour extra tomorrow - got to get the overtime whilst I can. Sunday will be sorting out the rest of the paperwork for SC.

I read a few diaries last night and amazed how people can have so many NSD through the month? Think I may need to set some challenges for myself. Having said that I think if I focus it will be achievable but DH on the other hand.....

I have warned DH of my plans to try and draw out the months spends for the "pots" (if the funds are there to do this) and use cash only - he can't get his head round this, he wants to work it out week by week which I think will be a nightmare and we may overspend. All our spends are worked out monthly so makes sense to me. I'm sure we'll figure it out.

Have a lovely weekend everyone

Triangle

I spent a lot of today panicking about affording birthdays and Christmas - never really budgeted for them before especially birthdays! Still it's the weekend now

hope_to_be_debt_free

I know what you mean Triangle, we've always just sorted Birthdays and Christmas on CC or Catalogue without much thought. Funnily DH and I are looking forward to hopefully budgeting for these and not using CC's for the first time in years. My aim is to build up a "pot" from unused monthly spends - will see how realisitic this is over time.

Yay to the weekend have a good one :beer:

rockabillygirl

It's really important that your other half is fully on board with how to manage the budget...it took mine a while to understand that the budget and management needed to happen, but he got there in the end!
I have 10 children plus grown ups to buy birthday and Christmas presents for (close family), plus my son - I monitor on a weekly basis toy and clothes sales and buy bargains each month and put them away, otherwise I couldn't manage all in one go.
Hope everyone's weekend is going well.

chevalier

Welcome to the boards. I f you put up your SOA, then we can offer you advice on where you can target some cuts.
good luck with your journey
chev

dawnybabes

Saving money becomes addictive :-)

hope_to_be_debt_free

Thanks for your lovely replies hope you had a good weekend?

DH is on board but he just can't see beyond the week ahead bless him, think he's finally getting his head round it all. He has taken my money "pots" as literal and now have 6 additional jars so that's 9 in total bless him.

Will eventually put a SOA up, when i'm feeling courageous lol.

So this weekend, we've been busy sorting paperwork out for SC, still wondering if it's best to try and start our DMP in Aug rather than July to raise some Emergency funds? We've also started a big clean and declutter - going to do a car boot in a couple of weeks and raise some more much needed funds. Can't believe how much stuff we've accumulated in the past couple of years!

I nearly, nearly had my first NSD until DH pulled up at the shop on the way home to get DD2 a bottle of juice for her school trip tomorrow totally forgot to get some whilst shopping at weekend. Still I saved by making packed lunch for work and getting a lift by DH to work rather than bus, meant I was there 90 mins early though - all adds up though.

Have a great week everyone